Alabama

A cashier at Fred's in Moody said EBT cards stopped working Saturday morning. Though the sign blames the government shutdown, several reports indicate that it was caused by a computer glitch. (Frank Couch | fcouch@al.com)

A temporary glitch in the Electronic Benefits Transfer system (EBT) led to empty Walmart shelves and police intervention in at least two Louisiana cities.

KSLA reports that police in Springhill, La. were called in to help Walmart employees control crowds after customers discovered spending limits on EBT cards weren’t showing up at the registers between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

A Walmart in Mansfield, La. had to stop selling food at 9 p.m. One woman in Springhill was detained by police after trying to get $700 worth of food when she only had 49 cents on her card. The store eventually decided not to press charges after she agreed to leave the food.

No one was arrested, according to Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd.

CBS reports that that Walmart associates had to call the company’s headquarters to ask how to proceed. They were told to keep ringing up customers.

“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards during the outrage so they could get food for their families,” Walmart representative Kayla Whaling said.

The EBT system went down in 17 states during a routine check of vendor Xerox’s system, according to AL.com. The system was back online later in the day, but still weren’t operating correctly in some areas.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services is investigating possible fraud allegations stemming from the incidents, according to a spokesperson.